Changing of the Clergy

The Rev. Edwin Cole strolls through the church’s aisles greeting parishioners as he has done for the last 10 years.

But for Cole, the Rev. Charles Pardee and the Rev. Mark Smith, all priests, it will be their last Sunday Mass in Columbia.

“I’ve been telling myself all morning to keep taking deep breaths,” Cole tells the Sacred Heart Catholic Church congregation as he begins his early morning Mass. “I’m still taking deep breaths.”

Three blocks away, Pardee and Smith say goodbye to their parishioners at St. Thomas More Newman Center.

The three departing priests were relocated to other parishes by the diocese of Jefferson City and will be replaced by four friars from the Order of Preachers, better known as the Dominicans.

The changing of the guard reflects a national trend in which the Catholic Church finds recruiting new priests more difficult.

Since 1965, the ratio of Catholics to priests has risen from 778 followers to one priest to 1,513 followers to one priest, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University.

The reshuffling came after the Very Rev. Michael Mascari, the superior of the order’s Province of St. Albert the Great, offered his order’s help in staffing to the bishops of several dioceses.

Parishioners welcome the new friars but are sad to see the priests leave.

Cole’s homily ended in a standing ovation and the Mass with tears from several parishioners.

“I just think he’s a really good person, and that came through in his ministry to each and every member of this parish,” said Joe Camille, a parishioner of six years. “If you had a model of what a priest should be like, he’s it.”

Cole started his ministry at Sacred Heart in 1996 and spent 17 years in Columbia. He has also been ministering to patients in Columbia hospitals.

Cole said he will miss the aliveness of the Sacred Heart community, but he is looking forward to the slower pace of his new parish of 400 families in Laurie, by the Lake of the Ozarks.

Cole said he has worn a hospital pager five days a week, 24 hours a day for 15 years.

“I turned it off this morning,” he said. “The slower pace will give me more time to practice music.”

Saying goodbye was difficult at the Newman Center, too. Pardee and Smith’s last Sunday in town was celebrated with a barbecue that saw about 200 people take over the center’s parking lot.

“It just shows how much they’re loved, how many people showed up,” said Rebecca Rone, a recent MU graduate. “I don’t think you can put into words how much they’ve affected the students here on campus.”

Pardee arrived at the Newman Center in 1998 and was joined by Smith in 2000. Their assignment was relatively short compared to that of the Rev. Mike Quinn, who spent 21 years at the Newman Center.

“I would be happy to stay another eight or fifteen years, but I can’t be greedy, I’ve had my time here,” Pardee said.

Pardee will serve the Catholic communities in Loose Creek and Bonnots Mill in Osage County, and Smith will minister in Martinsburg and Wellsville, on both sides of the Audrain-Montgomery county line.

Pardee and Smith are credited with getting the Newman Center out of crippling debt.

“Father Charlie brought the community together, and it helps that he’s a very sharp business person,” said Dick Otto, a parishioner of 35 years.

Replacing Pardee and Smith will be two Dominican friars; the Rev. Thomas Saucier will serve as the new pastor, and the Rev. Joachim Culotta will serve as an associate pastor.

The Rev. Steven Kuhlmann and the Rev. Thomas Paulsen were introduced to the Sacred Heart community Sunday as their new pastor and associate pastor, respectively.

Cole said he is glad that Sacred Heart, a parish of 700 families, will now have two priests instead of one.

“I very much support the move,” Cole said. “The Dominicans are a great addition” to the diocese.

Founded in the 13th century, the Dominican order’s mission is to preach in universities, and it has sought to re-establish that ministry in recent years, Mascari said.

The four Dominican friars will add to the diocese’s 70 priests, who serve in 95 parishes and 15 missions, said the Rev. Greg Higley, vicar general of the diocese of Jefferson City.

“We’re not as bad off as other dioceses are, but we are in no way near capacity,” Higley said. “We will ordain two priests this year, one in July and one in December, but after that we will have some lean years.”

LaRue Diehl contributed to this report.